313% Increase in Traffic - 90 Days

Search Engine Marketing or Social Media Marketing

The process of driving traffic to your website is of paramount importance if you want your online business to succeed. You can waste your time on a multitude of different methods but ultimately, you will find that search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM) are the two most effective. Search engine marketing involves optimization of a website using content and paid advertising in order to enjoy a high ranking on the major search engine results.

Social media marketing involves the use of sites such as Facebook and Twitter to engage with potential customers and encourage them to share and spread the word about your company and its products/services. Although these are the two best choices, you may only have the time/money to dedicate to one at this moment in time so which do you choose?

Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

Best estimates claim that approximately 90% of people use a search box to find what they need when online. This makes sense: When you’re online and want to find something, what do you do? I bet you enter keywords into the search box to find examples of what you need. Although some marketing experts suggest that SEO is dead, analysis of customer behavior suggests otherwise. Therefore, you need to use Google AdWords Keyword Tool to discover the most frequently searched for terms in your niche and start optimizing your content accordingly.

The organic (not paid for) search results is where all websites aim to be. If you rank in the top 10 results for keywords related to your niche, you WILL see a huge spike in website traffic. Advertisers are always interested in paying websites for ad space so if you’re comfortable with adverts on your webpages, you could make a nice little side income. Even if you can’t rank organically, you can pay to get your website seen via Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. Although the organic search results will always get more clicks, at least you will have a major online presence.

Search engine marketing remains as a fantastic method of advertising for businesses since it is still one of the most affordable forms of marketing. It enables you to reach an audience many times larger than traditional marketing for a fraction of the cost. Not only that, but search engine marketing allows you to discover your target audience which enables you to dedicate your efforts to a group that is genuinely interested in what you have to offer. If you have the ability to produce your own content, this form of marketing is actually free and with dedication, hard work and skill, you may rank on the first page of Google without spending any money!

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Facebook and Twitter have close to 1 billion users between them and many people have accounts on both. We are now living in the age of consumer power and with social media marketing; you get the opportunity to take advantage of this. When you have a presence on social media networks, users can share, ‘like’ or recommend your content or products to their friends and family. Getting this kind of attention is like receiving a seal of approval and enhances your company’s visibility and credibility. Customer recommendations generally lead to increased sales so satisfy one customer and you could receive many more as this happy individual refers you to their friends.

The flipside of this is the speed with which criticism of your company can spread. If you are on a social networking site, you get to quickly respond to criticism in real time. Online reputation management is more important than ever before. If you read negative comments on search engine results, you may not be able to respond to them. However, you can make a case for your defense on social networking sites. It can be difficult to keep calm in the face of extreme criticism but if you manage it, you will be rewarded as customers will respect the fact that you answered their concerns in person. Responding in a calm and timely manner proves that you care about your customers.

Which Is Better?

The simple answer is that neither is ‘better’ than the other! In actual fact, it is essential for your company to find a way to implement both techniques in order to effectively market your company. Without search engine marketing, you will not have much of a presence online and without social media marketing; you will not be taking advantage of the millions of potential customers at your fingertips. Fortunately, there are ways and means to incorporate both forms of marketing regardless of your budget or time constraints. You can sit down and continue to ‘strategize’ which means you are effectively doing nothing or else you can get started today and exponentially improve your company’s visibility while establishing your brand.

This article is written by Sara Carter. I like social networks, Google android and psychology. I am the founder of http://www.mac-reviews.net/. I’m interested in IT services, computer upgrades, computer repair, and different computer apps. I also love travelling and skiing.

About the Author: Having held Director and VP level positions at large search agencies over the past 8 years I have gained a wealth of experience and knowledge. I now offer agency quality SEO consulting services without the big agency overhead so that more of your dollars will go into your campaign.Follow me on Google+, Miguel Salcido and Twitter for regular updates.

Social Media Marketing is always Better option to Promote and to reach people easily and effectively. But E-mail marketing is always a king. Still Social Marketing Cannot be neglected as in Future it might change the face of marketing. Thanks for the great Post